India: United We Stand

The Budget of nearly Rs 45 lakh crore for the financial year 2023-’24 could not be discussed amid protests in both Opposition and treasury benches.

The House was adjourned twice amid the ruckus. After the proceedings resumed at 6 pm, it took just 12 minutes to complete the formalities of passing the Bills.

Speaker Om Birla applied the guillotine — a procedure that puts to vote the entire set of demands for grants of various ministries and departments without any discussion.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill 2023 also amid ruckus on the Adani controversy. Under the Bill, Sitharaman has introduced 20 amendments to laws dealing with taxation in the country.

With the passing of the Finance Bill, the Lok Sabha has enabled setting up an appellate tribunal for resolving disputes under Goods and Services Tax, or GST.

Presently, taxpayers are filing writ petitions before High Courts in the absence of the appellate tribunal. The appellate tribunal had not been set up even after more than five years of implementation of the GST regime.